Positives for post-Brexit construction sector

Greenwich Millennium Village - one of Thomas & Adamson's key projects for 2018.

Experts at leading construction and property consultancy, Thomas & Adamson, are holding a positive outlook for the UK construction sector for next year and post-Brexit.

The consultancy is going against the gloomy forecast for construction, saying that plenty of opportunities remain in a post-Brexit UK and the sector could benefit from the European-divorce.

“The outcome of Brexit for the construction industry will ultimately depend on the terms of any Brexit deal and the industry’s ability to adapt to its new situation and capitalise upon that,” said Chris Narrowmore, Partner at Thomas & Adamson.

“We expected a downtown on the back of Brexit, but it hasn’t kicked in fully across the UK yet.” He added. “There are still real opportunities out there. The main concern is how UK-based major funds will be looking to place investment. This could initially mean more outward investment rather than into the UK. That said, we have seen a fair amount of foreign investment in 2017 – especially into the UK student accommodation market.”

Recent forecasts from the Construction Products Association predict that the sector will expand just 0.7 per cent in 2018, the slowest rate in six years; although it remains positive about the overall construction output growth for 2017, predicting it to be 0.3 per cent higher than previously thought, at 1.6 per cent.

Senior Partner at Thomas & Adamson, Alastair Wallace, said: “Although uncertainty has the potential to derail the industry in the short term, the construction sector has a unique opportunity in a post-Brexit world to market itself.”

He added: “It must clearly define what a prosperous post-Brexit construction sector looks like. We cannot wait on politicians to determine the sector’s success. The construction sector’s players need to take the market by the horns and push ahead. Economists are talking about a decline in construction, but this really is more attributed to big infrastructure projects. There are still a lot of opportunities outside of government-funded projects and that’s what we as a company are focusing on.”

Mr Wallace points to Thomas & Adamson’s internal growth as a positive sign for the industry in 2018, with key projects already secured and an investment in staff continuing.

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